Ashcroft working on new material

by Natalie Walker

FORMER The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft has revealed he expects to debut new material from his United Nations Of Sound project in the next couple of months.

The ex-Up Holland resident told BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne: “I’ve just been working for the past six to seven months in my cellar. I’m really excited, we should get the first potential tune in September. I’m just putting everything into it at the moment.”

The new music will be the first new material from Ashcroft since the debut United Nations Of Sound album in 2010.

He also used the interview to criticise Blur singer Damon Albarn, saying: “The great thing about the United Nations of Sound album is that because it wasn’t something written by Damon Albarn it wasn’t front page news or anything.

“None of my followers are sheep, nobody has been told to follow Richard Ashcroft since ‘Urban Hymns’ came out. Richard Ashcroft has never been in fashion. A lot of other artists feed off being the right people at the right time but to be able to play a gig 15 or 20 years later and have people sing your songs goes beyond fashion.”

The former Winstanley College student also said he was not interested in reforming The Verve and attacked music festivals for not giving new bands a break.

He said: “It’s not happening. You have to be real in life and I’m proud that we went in and recorded new material. The whole nostalgia thing is getting suffocating and it’s difficult for younger acts, especially at festivals.

“If you look at some of the line-ups, I’m not ageist by any means, but it’s dominated by nostalgia. “We need the youth to create their own version of what may potentially become nostalgic but if they haven’t got a place to do that because they’re dominated by these big monster dinosaur acts, mopping up all the money.”